28 October, 2010

I'm entirely honored! This is the second week in which I'm privileged to post something that was sent to me by more than one friend. Thanks, guys, for thinking of me!

First, my friend Jeff found the photo here, on the Hyper-Semitic blog. Thanks, Jeff, not only for the photo, but for introducing me to that blog!

And then, before I had a chance to post it, my friend Dena found the same exact sign in person, in the actual, live Central Park! Talk about a wacky coincidence. Get ready, everyone, here you go:

This is funny on many, many levels. As you can see, this helpful poster is warning us to be careful and stay away from stray animals that may carry rabies. It then goes to the trouble of translating the subject into many, many different languages. We the Jews are evidently worthy of two - both Hebrew and Yiddish! First, the fact that the city of New York is actively printing in Yiddish is a bit shocking to me, but hey - I've never lived in New York. Maybe that's not unusual. But here's the kicker - just like last week's post, the words here are both backward! Yep, left to right, instead of right to left.

Okay, we're up to two levels: one, printing in Yiddish, and two, doing it backward. What's three, I hear you cry? Well, according to the backward Yiddish, the word for rabies is Vassershrek. And according to Hyper-Semitic:

21 October, 2010

This is going to be kind of a combination post. I'll start with this funny page from a book we considered buying while in the States. It's called Earth, by Jon Stewart. It was a bit pricey, so we left it on the shelf, but I noticed this page about Jews while flipping through. I thought this part was funny:

And then Dave noticed that in the text next to it, the Hebrew didn't seem to make any sense. Can you see why? (Tee-hee!)

So first of all, yes, the Hebrew doesn't have anything to do with the English. But second - look! It's all backwards! You know, just like what happens to us now and again when typing English and Hebrew together - except that we know how to fix it. So this passage is the beginning of Genesis, but with all the letters left to right, instead of right to left. Ha! Hmm, maybe it's not so funny - most people reading his book won't care. But I enjoyed it quite a bit, and now I'm giving you the opportunity to do the same.

And on that Hebrew blunders note, here's the second half of my post. This is a photo that has been going around the internet today - it was forwarded to me by no less than three of my friends (thanks Jay, Merav via Varda, and Inon!) and has featured prominently on at least one blog. And now, here at last, I present you:

Now, I'm not entirely sure if you'll all get this. While the Israelis are falling off their chairs in laughter, I'm going to try to explain to my Anglo readers: you can clearly see that this is Head & Shoulders shampoo. And yet the Hebrew ridiculously says "Eden Shodurs." This isn't entirely impossible, since many Israelis do skip over the H's in the beginnings of words. I personally really like that the L in shoulders became silent, in stark contrast (as pointed out by Rafi G.) to words like Lincoln, which becomes Linkolen in Hebrew.

And yet I wonder - could anyone really be so dumb as to have written this sign? I think the fact that the photo spread so quickly is also adding to my hunch that the photo is a hoax. And yet, it's so funny, I couldn't resist posting it, even if it is a hoax! Enjoy, my gentle readers!

Oh - I need to share some JBlogosphere news: RivkA (of Coffee and Chemo) has been hospitalized! As always, please daven (or send happy, healing thoughts) for RivkA bat Teirtzel. And if you'd like to sign up to say Tehilim, you can do that here. Refua Sheleima Umehira!

12 October, 2010

Well, you may not all know this, but even as I type, Dave and I are on a fun-filled vacation in the States! We've been in Boston since Thursday afternoon, and are headed out to Chicago tomorrow night, where we'll be through Sunday. If you're in either of those locations, we would love to see you!

Anyway, needless to say, I haven't been doing much blogging recently. Who has time? But I didn't want to leave you all waiting around... and I really couldn't resist after finding what I found! Just wait - here it comes:

We were out at lunch with friends in Boston. The place was lovely: good food, big portions, and not too expensive. As we were walking out, Dave grabbed a menu. "Maybe you'll find something for your blog," he suggested. I reminded him that we were in the US, and that people know how to write in English - but then again, it's always good to have an extra menu, so I stuck it in my bag. And there it rested until last night. When I took it out, I think I may have yelped out loud. Can you believe it? Right there on the cover:

Can you believe it? I'm really not sure that I can! I mean, I know that Mediterranean is a long word. Maybe they didn't want to use a smaller font or something, maybe they figured no one was likely to really read the whole word... but on the cover? Mediterrean? Come on. For shame!

On the other hand, this makes me feel much better about all those mistakes I find in Israel :)

I hope to be back on my regular posting schedule soon - in the meantime, take care, all of you!